Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, said Wednesday that suggesting Obama might consult Congress on matters of foreign policy or national security is “kind of like fantasy football.”
When asked what she would tell the president if he came to Congress asking how to improve his credibility in foreign affairs, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa said that’s a situation that would never happen.
“The fact that he would be coming to us and asking us, that’s kind of like fantasy football. I don’t see that happening,” she said at a Foundation for the Defense of Democracies conference in Washington. “I think he considers us a nuisance instead of a helping partner.”
Still, if she could advise the president, she said she would tell him to stick by the promises he made during his campaign, especially in regard to a deal with Iran to prevent them from procuring a nuclear weapon.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said the deal with Iran lowers the bar too much and overlooks too many missteps the country has made.
“The more we know, the more we should get disturbed and anxious and worried,” she said of the deal.
Rep. Ted Deutch, Florida Democrat and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, said the congressional deal to vote on and approve a final deal with Iran allows lawmakers to focus in on details of the deal instead of a political fight over whether or not Congress gets a say.
“These are lots of very legitimate questions that over the coming weeks we’re going to really dig in to see if we can get to a deal that addresses them,” he said.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen also encouraged the administration to reassure allies that America is and will act as a world power in foreign policy. The president’s meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro recently — but refusing to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Washington — sends the wrong message to allies.
“Some of our allies are questioning where we stand on these important issues because they see an administration that doesn’t quite know the difference between an ally and an adversary,” she said.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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